SoundCraft Vi4 Owner's manual

Brand: SoundCraft

Model: Vi4

Type: Owner's manual

This manual is also suitable for

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 1

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 2

SYSTEM HARDWARE OVERVIEW

Stage Box

6U Stage Box

2U Fan Unit

Local Rack

6U Local Rack

3U Fan/Filter Unit

4U Breakout Box

Figure 2-1. The System’s Three Component Parts.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 3

NOTE ON INSTALLATION OF THE COOLING FANS/FILTERS

The Stage Box and Local Rack may be ordered already tted into ight cases, in which case the cooling

fans/lters will already be located correctly as shown in the diagrams below.

If the system has been ordered without ightcases, in order that it can be permanently installed, please

ensure that the cooling fans/lters are located as shown below.

Local Rack

Figure 2-2a: Layout Of Local Rack.

Stage Box

Figure 2-2b: Layout Of Stage Box.

NOTE: Ensure fan units on Local Rack and Stagebox are connected and operational.

CLEAN FILTERS REGULARLY!

The lters are outlined in yellow in the gures above.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 4

THE CONSOLE REAR CONNECTORS

Mains Power Supply Inlet

The mains input is via an IEC connector, with an associated switch, as shown below. This feeds power to

the primary PSU.

Figure 2-3a: Main Primary Supply Inlet.

An optional redundant primary supply may also be tted. Its inlet connector is as shown below.

Figure 2-3b: Redundant Primary Supply Inlet.

Audio And Data Rearcon

MIDI Connectors

These are provided by the usual 5-pin DIN connectors.

HiQNet™ Connector

This is an XLR-housed EtherCon connector.

USB Connectors

Use one of these to connect a PC-type keyboard. There is another USB connector on the front panel. A

memory stick can be used with either of these two free connectors.

Talkback Mic

This connector is a parallel connection to the front-panel talkback mic connector, and has an associated

48V switch for use if the microphone used requires phantom power.

TB Link, Phones L & R and Control Data

This group of four sockets (3 XLRs and an XLR-housed EtherCon connector) are used to link the console’s

control surface to the Local Rack. The cable to do this (part number RL0267-01) is supplied with the

system. The function of each of the connectors in this cable is marked with a cable sleeve.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 5

Figure 2-4: Console Rearcon Panel.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 6

Front Panel

The front panel contains the Status LED array.

Figure 2-5: Status LEDs.

These LEDs give an at-a-glance indication that the Local Rack is functioning correctly, or that an error

condition has occured. An illuminated green LED indicates the presence of a card, an illuminated red LED

warns of a card error.

LOCAL RACK

Local Rack Description

The Local Rack is the audio ‘brain’ of the Soundcraft Vi Series™, it contains the DSP mixing processor and

the local I/O connections.

The rack consists of a 6U processing and I/O unit, developed by Studer, called the SCore. Below this is a

3U low-noise cooling fan unit. The SCore itself consists of two sections: the upper 3U section houses the

DSP mixing core, and the lower 3U section houses the local audio I/O and also the connections to the

remote Stage Box.

The audio processing inside the SCore is independent of the control surface. This means that the audio

will continue to pass even if the control surface is switched off or disconnected from the core.

How It Works

The control surface sends control data to the Bridge Card, which is a communication and processing hub

situated in the centre of the top 3U section of the Local Rack. The Bridge Card interprets the control data

and sends internal data to the two DSP Pro cards and the FX Card (when tted). These cards actually

process the audio. The audio input and output connections to the DSP cards are made via 4 short CAT 5

patch cables, which connect the DSP cards with the I/O rack in the lower 3U section of the core.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 7

Local Rack Rear

The rear of the Local Rack gives access to the cards in the card frame, and to the XLR breakout box.

Primary Power Supply

The primary power supply connects directly to the IEC inlet and provides a full range ac inlet, convert-

ing 100V to 240V ac to 24V dc. The Local Rack can hold up to two power supplies, providing seamless

redundancy for those that require it. The rack fan control connection is also provided by one of the power

supplies.

XLR Breakout Box

This provides connectors for analogue and AES/EBU audio, and interfaces to the Line In cards, Line Out

cards, Mic card and AES/EBU Card within the Local Rack card frame. All the connectors on the Breakout

Box are of the XLR type.

It is possible to order the console without this part, in this case the user will have to provide suitable ca-

bling and connectors to interface with the appropriate Local Rack cards. A complete pin list is given later

in this chapter.

The Breakout Box connector labelling references are used by the patching system (see chapter 11) when

the user wishes to patch the connectors to input channels or output busses.

Audio I/O Cards

The following cards are supported.

1 X Mic/Line Input card providing four electronically balanced Mic/Line Input channels, each

with digitally-controlled analogue gain, a 80Hz low-cut lter, and phantom power.

2 X Line Input cards, each providing eight line input channels.

3 X Line Output cards, each providing eight line output channels.

1 X AES I/O card, providing 16 AES input channels and 16 AES output channels.

1 X MADI Stage Box interface card ( normally Cat 5, but it can optionally be replaced by an opti-

cal MADI card).

1 X Optical MADI card, providing 64 MADI input and 64 MADI output channels.

See page 2-10 for more details.

Note that there is a RECONFIG button behind a small hole at the bottom right of the panel. When pressed

with a small screwdriver or similar a reset is applied to the lower row of cards in the local rack: this will

force a re-polling of the loaded cards to recongure the console. This needs to be done only if the card

conguration has been changed.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 8

Local Rack Rear View

The rear view is shown below. Note that the last remaining connector from the console surface (the RJ45

ethernet connector) goes into the top socket on the bridge card.

Figure 2-6: Local Rack Rear View.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 9

Local Rack Audio Pinouts

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 10

Card Function Overview

The local rack card frame contains the following components.

(Top Row)

GPIO Card with Relay Contacts

Provides a second, independent set of GPIO, which will be controlled by the GPIO page of the Control Sur-

face. The inputs are opto-isolated and the outputs are SPST relay contacts. For a pin-out list see chapter

16.

Bridge Card

Provides the connection from the Local Rack to the Control Surface. Houses a QNX embedded processing

system which controls all the audio processing in the rack.

DSP Pro (2 off)

Houses 12 x Hammerhead SHARC chips, which process all audio for the system.

Audio Clock

Provides clock connection to external equipment, both in and out. The wordclock input options are Video

clock, standard wordclock or AES/EBU sync clock. Any of these can be used as a wordclock source for the

console. The console permanently outputs standard wordclock and AES/EBU wordclock for sync purposes.

(Bottom Row)

Line In

Each card provides 8 x transformer isolated analogue inputs at line level. The card has a signal present

indicator for each input. Analogue to digital conversion is handled by a 24 bit ADC.

Line Out

Each card provides 8 x transformer isolated analogue outputs at line level. Card provides 8 x DAC. Clock

received from backplane. The 3

card is used for the analogue monitor outputs, and to send phones L & R

to the control surface.

AES/EBU Card Input SRC

Card handles 8 x AES input and 8 x AES output. Inputs are sample rate converted so no external clock

is required. Inputs have signal present indication. Sample Rate Conversion (SRC) can be disabled using

internal jumpers if required.

HD Card

Communicates with the rst DSP Pro on the top row of cards. It passes digital audio along with control

data and status information about the cards loaded into the frame. Each pair of links can handle up to

96 channels in both directions. The HD card is responsible for working out what cards are loaded into the

system and conguring it accordingly. The RECONFIG button on the front panel of the Local Rack will force

a re-polling of the loaded cards to recongure the console.

Mic Card

Provides 4 x Mic input for Talkback and local Mic input. The card has 8 indicators, 4 indicators for signal

present at the mic input and 4 indicators for the phantom power status.

MADI Card 1

This card is used to connect the Local Rack to the Stagebox. This card passes up to 64 channels of audio

in each direction between the stagebox and local rack, normally congured as 64 ins and 32 outs. The

card also sends control data to the stagebox, as well as receiving information about the status of the

stagebox cards. The second input on the card can be used to increase sample rate to 96kHz (this will

also require additional DSP and isn’t available yet) or provide redundancy. It also carries clock and control

data. The 9-pin D-type connector can carry independent RS422 serial data from local rack to stagebox.

Lock LED indicates clock lock between local rack and stagebox. Wordclock output can be used as a W/C

source when connecting two consoles to one Stagebox.

MADI Card 2

A second MADI card is tted to the right of the rst card. This second card is used for connection to an

external MADI device, such as a MADI recorder, and will always be tted with optical connectors. It is

possible to select either 56ch or 64ch MADI mode, depending on the connected device.

Merger Card

The D-type connectors on this card are not used. This card is used only for internal communications.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 11

Breakout Box

The breakout box provides connections for 16 line inputs, 16 line outputs, 16 AES/EBU input channels,

16 AES/EBU output channels, 5 local monitor outputs, a talkback output, 3 mic inputs, and 3 connectors

for the link cable to the control surface.

Figure 2-7: XLR

Breakout Box.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 12

Cat 5 Breakout Panel

Note that this panel was not

tted to early models.

Figure 2-8: Cat 5 Breakout Panel.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 13

STAGE BOX

The Stage Box contains 12 Slots for 6U-high Audio I/O Cards, a GPIO/LED Card and the MADI HD Card

which contains the Stage Box-to-Local Rack connection.

Slots are labelled from left to right A-L, and the connectors on the cards are numbered from top to bottom

1-8. These labelling references are used by the patching system (see chapter 11) when the user wishes to

patch the connectors to input channels or output busses.

The primary power supplies and the ventilation monitoring connector can be found on the rear panel.

Stage Box Description

Primary power supply

The primary power supply connects directly to the IEC inlet and provides a full range ac inlet, converting

100V to 240V ac to 24V dc. The Stage box can hold up to two power supplies, providing redundancy for

those that require it.

Audio I/O Cards

The following cards are supported.

6 X Mic/Line Input cards each providing eight electronically balanced Mic/Line Input channels,

each with digitally-controlled analogue gain, a 20dB pad, a 80Hz low-cut lter, and phantom

power.

3 X Line Output cards, each providing eight line output channels.

Optional Cards

AES Input card, providing 8 AES input channels (replaces 1 Mic/Line Input card).

AES Output card, providing 8 AES output channels (replaces 1 Mic/Line Output card).

Card Function Overview

Input card

Input cards handle 8 x mic amp, phantom power, pad, analogue low pass lter, phase reverse and A to

D. The card has an internal ID, which indicates whether it is input or output and analogue or digital. This

means that the system can automatically recognise if the card conguration has been changed.

Output Card

Output cards handle 8 x D to A. The card has a set of relays, which will mute the outputs if the power fails.

The module type is identied by the internal ID of the module.

Normally 3 output cards are tted, giving 24 outputs, however, more cards, up to a maximum of 8 cards

giving 64 outputs, can be tted if input cards are removed.

LED/GPIO/Status card.

Handles GPIO, which is controlled remotely from the Control Surface. The inputs are on opto-isolators and

the outputs are open collector transistor outputs. The card also has status indicators for power rails, clock

status and IO, and a RECONFIG button which must be pressed if the card conguration has been changed.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 14

MADI HD link card

This card provides audio and control connection with the Local Rack via MADI. The corresponding MADI

card in the Local Rack transmits the clock for the Stagebox down the MADI stream. The second input on

the card can be used to increase the sample rate to 96KHz, provide a redundant connection to the Local

rack or to connect to a second system if two consoles are to be used for a monitor/FOH conguration. The

MADI card indicates its clock status using the lock LED on the card. An RS422 link output is also tted,

allowing RS422 data to be transmitted via a ‘pipeline’ within the MADI stream from a corresponding port

on the Local Rack to allow remote RS422 control. This RS422 port can also be used to control the mic

preamp gain in the Stagebox if it is in stand-alone mode or digital snake mode.

Redundant MADI Cable Operation

The system can be used with either a single cable connected to the MAIN or AUX ports (usually MAIN), or,

for additional security, two cables can be used to provide fully-automatic redundant operation. The 3-posi-

tion INPUT SEL toggle switch on the Stagebox MADI card determines the mode of operation.

It is very important that this switch is set correctly!

For single cable operation: the switch must be set to either ‘MAIN’ or ‘AUX’, depending on which socket is

being used.

For dual redundant operation: the switch MUST be set to the ‘RED’ position.

In redundant mode, the system will automatically switch to the other cable if a fault is detected on one

cable. Note that it will then stay on the second cable even if the connection is restored on the rst cable.

This is to prevent intermittent switching.

NOTE: Do NOT operate with the switch in ‘RED’ mode when only one cable is being used.

Although this may appear to work, audio may not be restored if the cable is temporarily

unplugged.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 15

Front Panel

Figure 2-9: Stage Box Front Panel.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 16

CONNECTING THE PARTS OF THE SYSTEM

Figure 2-10a: System Interconnections.

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112 Page 2 - 17

Figure 2-10b: System Interconnections.

NOTE: Ensure fan units on Local Rack and Stagebox are connected and operational.

CLEAN FILTERS REGULARLY!

Soundcraft Vi Series™ User Guide 1112Page 2 - 18

SoundCraft Vi4 Owner's manual

Brand: SoundCraft

Model: Vi4

Type: Owner's manual

This manual is also suitable for

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